Near field communication (NFC) devices are being integrated into communication devices, such as mobile devices, to facilitate the use of these communication devices in conducting daily transactions. For example, instead of carrying numerous credit cards, a NFC device user can use an NFC device to store credit information provided by credit cards. To provide access to this credit information, the NFC device user taps the NFC device to a credit card terminal to relay the credit information to the terminal. Another example of an NFC device application is a ticket writing system, such as those used in bus and train terminals. Ticket fare information may be written onto the NFC device instead of providing a ticket to a passenger. The passenger then taps the NFC device to a reader to ride the bus or the train without the use of a paper ticket.
Generally, NFC requires that NFC devices be present within a relatively small distance from one another so that their corresponding magnetic fields can exchange information. Typically, a first NFC device transmits or generates a magnetic field modulated with the information, such as the credit information or the ticket fare information. This magnetic field inductively couples the information onto a second NFC device that is proximate to the first NFC device. The second NFC device may respond to the first NFC device by inductively coupling its corresponding information onto the first NFC device.
Under certain circumstances, a NFC device may have to derive power from the magnetic field of another NFC device. Typically, the NFC device may support many applications, such as interfacing with a memory to access the credit information and/or the ticket fare information. Some of these applications, such as reading the credit information and/or the ticket fare information from the memory, require a relatively small amount of power and may be supported using this harvested energy. Whereas, other applications, such as writing the credit information and/or the ticket fare information to the memory, that require a relatively large amount of power may not be supported using this harvested energy. What is needed are systems and methods for determining which applications may be supported using the harvested energy.
Features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.